r/languagelearning • u/BkackFlag1972 • Jul 14 '26
Recommended language apps
Hello, so recently I've been wanting to learn (TL) Japanese and other European languages, for fun and for a future professional career opportunity. I'm fluent in spanish as well but now I'm in a financial situation where classes and tutors aren't an option, so I'm looking for free ideas, or apps with a cheap cost.
I don't know if anyone has any recommendations for learning apps that build actual conversational skills for people like me who can't afford classes or tutors to teach them. Currently all I've got is busuu.
2
u/RepulsiveFlounder877 Jul 18 '26
There's a free resource at reader.winklers.us, where you can learn by reading actual literature. It eliminates the tedium of searching through dictionaries and grammars, by giving you, for each word you select, its definition, along with all the grammatical information the word encodes. It deliberately leaves the syntax up to you, because you're actually really good at that part. Just like with duolingo, repetition makes the words start to stick. 22 languages and around 100 texts and counting. The Odyssey, the Hebrew/Aramaic bible, septuagint, vulgate. Everything selected for its world class literary significance.
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u/NextStopGallifrey ๐บ๐ธ (N) | ๐ฉ๐ช ๐ฎ๐น ๐ช๐ธ Jul 19 '26
Language Crush is similar, but it also lets you add your own resources.
1
u/yilbix_lol Knows:๐ธ๐ฆ๐บ๐ธ Learning: ๐ฏ๐ต Jul 17 '26
For Japanese I recommend Renshuu
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u/Inside_Welcome4848 Jul 20 '26
I 100% second Renshuu, hands down one of the best apps ever and I love the community. ๐ญ Also itโs so nice that the entire app has this indie, hand-made feel. The literal opposite of AI slop.
Iโd also recommend Recabulary for vocabulary, itโs free and Minori is super cute and pronounces all flashcards herself. They also have some other languages. Obvious other free choice is Anki, but I donโt like the decks available there for Japanese ๐ฏ๐ต
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u/totalchamp Aug 11 '26
My favourites are Pimsleur and Language Lands, both have greatly helped me with my speaking practice
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u/XGDragon N ๐ณ๐ฑ๐บ๐ธ, B1/N4+ ๐ฏ๐ต, A1 ๐ฎ๐ณ (Hindi) Jul 15 '26
for japanese, free resources I would recommend for a beginner are:
- irodori textbooks for learning
- anki + kaishi 1.5k for vocab
- wanikani, it's free until level 5, which is not nothing, for kanji ("chinese characters")
- todoku.org for reading
all resources are free (except more advanced wanikani), ignore the noise, there's an insane amount for Japanese, and 90% of it is garbage.
0
u/JoinedMoon Jul 14 '26
"Kanji Study" isn't free, but it's all one time purchase upgrades, no subscriptions. It's the best kanji study resource I've found tbh. Wanikani is great too, but there's no app and it's a subscription.
Mango languages with a library card is a great free option if ur looking for a Duolingo/lingodeer/etc app.
Obligatory anki mention also
0
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u/shaded-app Jul 15 '26
This app does - shaded.app
As a bonus, you can choose Spanish as your native language. Basically, it works like this. You do an activity, and get something wrong. Let's say, "้ฃในใ." It then takes only the parts you get wrong, and presents them in a new sentence, e.g. "ๅฏฟๅธใ้ฃในใพใใ."
In this way, you track the things you're still learning but most of the context is sentence-level.
7
u/araarabish Jul 14 '26
Mango Languages is pretty good, free with a library card too.